Recovery
by Hydrochloric Cutie
Summary: There is something happening at St. Mungo's hospital, and two patients are being given a new chance at life.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood were walking, hand in hand, down the fourth floor in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injures; the spell damage floor. Neville had finally caved in to his girlfriend's request to go visit his parents. She wanted to meet his parents but he thought she wouldn't want to see them as they were; old, hollow shells of what they used to be.

"I really don't mind if they don't understand me, I just want to see them for myself," Luna had said. "I want to help you cope with all of this."

"Fine, love," was all Neville could say. He had gotten his parents room moved to a more private wing, away from the omnipresent Gilderoy Lockhart, their old Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. His memory was slowly being reversed, which meant his narcissistic nature had come back, making him too hard to deal with. Neville visited as least once a month, usually on Sundays when he had off from school.

As they walked down the corridor, Neville greeted all the Healers by name, as he had gotten to know them over the years. They had watched him grow up before their eyes, like an extra extended family. They couple stopped just outside the door of the Longbottom's suite. Neville turned to Luna and grabbed her hands, pulling them closely to his chest.

"I love you so much. But I just want to warn you, this isn't a pretty sight. They are like empty shells of the people they used to be; I don't blame you if you want to leave."

"I won't leave. I won't let it bother me," she said adamantly. He broke his grip and turned to the door to open it. When he pushed the door open they saw a king sized bed, but it was empty. "Where --?" Luna questioned but Neville put a finger to her lips, halting her speech. He motioned for her to follow him. They turned the corner to see his parents sitting in plush arm chairs, their backs to the teens, looking at the fire. From this angle, they almost seemed like a normal married couple.

"Mum? Dad?" Neville said gingerly, not wanting to startle them. His mother's head whipped around at the sound of a familiar voice. Little did she know this nice young man who came to visit them every so often was their only son. "How are you today?" he asked slowly.

"Mmm…" she intoned. This usually meant that she wasn't in any pain. He turned to his father and asked the same question, eliciting the same response, but he was cut short by a loud bang.

Oy! Neville! Neville, I figured it out!" a young healer cried out as he bound into the room.

"Auggie calm down!" Neville said loudly, putting his hands on the healer's shoulders to keep him from jumping about.

"But I figured out how to cure them!" Augustus Liber said rather excitedly.

"W-what?!" Neville cried, flabbergasted. He barely made it to the bed before his legs completely gave out on him. No one had ever told him a anything could be done to help his parents, now there could be a cure!

"I figured it out; I have test rats I've been working with testing the Cruciatus Curse." Luna gasped and Auggie just looked at her.

"Oh, Auggie, this is Luna Lovegood, my girlfriend," Neville introduced. They shook hands before he launched into his explanation.

"Well anyways, the rats. I canst the curse on them until they became into a similar status to your parents. It was a lot, by the way, your parents were really tough," he offered with a reassuring smile. "Then I left them like that for an entire month, making observations and such. Yesterday I cast the curse again and I held it. After a minute, the one started to squeal again; I removed the curse and they were nearly back to normal. So the next time I kept the curse longer for the others, and they were just as good as new!"

"So what you're saying is all we have to do is put the Cruciatus Curse back on my parents for them to be cared?" Neville asked warily, almost as if he asked, the simple solution would go away.

"Well, we need the person who cast the charm originally, I think," Auggie said, rubbing the back of his head. Neville's face fell.

"Why? Who was it?" Auggie asked.

"It was Bellatrix Lestrange. She as killed in the final battle last year," Luna explained.

"Oh," Auggis said, trailing off into his own thoughts. "Wait! Intense feeling is needed, so there's only one person I can think of."

"Who?" Neville croaked, a look of surprise and hope etched on his face.

"You could do it Nev," he said, proud that made this new brilliant connection.

"No, my parents, I couldn't," he protested shakily. Luna walked over to the bed and sat down next to him, placing her hands over his clasped ones.

"You can do this love," she said, her voice trembling, not possessing the usually dreamy tone. He put his head down, taking deep breaths while she ran her fingers through his hair, trying to calm him down. After several minutes of silent contemplation he spoke.

"Okay, I'll do it," Neville said shakily.

"We'll need to get your grandmother's permission though," Auggie explained, waving his wand, and conjuring the proper paperwork.

"No!" Neville shouted, knowing his stern grandmother would turn this down as being about to have the slight chance of not working. "I'm seventeen, I can make this decision for myself."

"Alright Nev," Auggie said calmly. "Just one parent at a time, who's first?"

"Dad," Neville said quietly. Augustus asked Luna to stay with Alice for the time being. Luna brought his head down so she could kiss his forehead. This gave him the courage to get up from his parent's hospital bed and approached his father. "Come on, Dad, we need to go to another room for a little while," Neville said calmly, extricating his father from the plush chair. Auggie led Frank and Neville down the empty hallway to the sound-proofed room Auggie had set up earlier this morning. Together they strapped him into a special chair in the middle of the room. Neville stood off in the corner for several minutes, both of his hands against the wall, bracing himself physically as well as mentally for the task looming ahead.

"You sure you can do this Nev?"

"Yeah," he replied, a determined look now on his face as he turned away from the wall. He trained his wand just below his emotionless face, right at his heart. "Crucio!" he bellowed, channeling all the hate he felt for Bellatrix, all the love he had all the love for his friends, and all the hope he head for this treatment to work into that single curse. There was a deafening silence for several minutes by Neville didn't give up, trying even harder. Suddenly a scream ripped through the air, piercing Neville's heart. He nearly ended the curse there, but Auggie coached him through.

"Not yet Neville! Two and a half minutes more!" he yelled. Neville held his concentration remarkably well through the screams of a voice he had longed to hear. It was the longest two and a half minutes of his life. "It's okay, you can lift the curse!"

Neville dropped his wand and it fell with a loud clatter to the floor. He looked his father in the eye and knew it worked; he saw a new spark of life behind those pale green eyes. His appearance had changed radically as well, the youth and vigor flooded his body and his hair turned from the wispy white to thick brown locks again.

"Who are you?" Frank asked, his voice hoarse from his prolonged screaming.

"All in good time," Augustus said calmly. "You are at St. Mungo's hospital. My name is Healer Augustus Liber. We need to attend to your wife and then we'll explain everything."

Though Frank looked hesitant, he reluctantly agreed to wait on the information. "You might want to check him out in the mean time, he doesn't look too well," Frank said.

"I will don't worry," Auggie assured him. "If you are able, please follow me, I can get you a wheel chair if you would like some assistance."

"I think the wheelchair would be nice," Frank said. Auggie simple nodded and conjured a wheelchair. Both he and Neville helped Frank into the new chair.

"Go down and bring Alice here would you please," Auggie asked Neville. He nodded and shakily walked down to his parent's room. When he walked in, he saw Alice and Luna sitting on the bed, holding each others hands.

"How'd it go?" Luna asked nervously.

"It worked," he replied shakily. Luna sprung from the bed and jumped on him. They both fell backwards with her on top, kissing all over his face.

"Oh that's wonderful!" Luna cried as she sa back on his lower stomach. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been run over by a herd of hippogriffs."

"It really took that much out of you?" she asked. He nodded when she finally got up, she helped him get up and go to the bed. Luna dug through her purse and pulled out a rather large phial. "Here drink this."

"What is it?"

"A pepper-up potion with a strengthening solution," she said simply.

"And you just had it in there why?"

"I had a feeling today might be harder on you than normal," she replied.

"And that's what I love about you," he said, accepting the phial and downing it in a single gulp. "We need to bring my mum down now."

"Are you sure you're ready?"

"Yeah, thanks to you," he said sincerely. She nodded and together they brought Alice to the sound-proof room. "Can you do me a favor?" she nodded. "Floo McGonagall and ask her to floo here and I'll explain everything."

If she found anything odd about all of this, she didn't show it. After a quick kiss good bye, Luna left and Neville turned to his mother. Auggie came in and helped him strap her into the chair. "You ready? Need a potion to get you through this?"

"Nah, Luna gave me pepper-up with strengthening solution a bit ago, it should be kicked in soon," Neville said.

"Smart girl, don't let her go."

"I don't plan on it," Neville said, a small smile playing across his face. "Let's get this crackin'." They repeated the same events but this time he was prepared when he heard her scream. Once Auggie told him to stop, he help on to the want when he lifted the curse this time.

"Wh – what's going on?" Alice asked, her voice soft and timid.

"Mrs. Longbottom, we're in St. Mungo's. My name is Healer Augustus Liber," he explained. "We need to get you to a special room where your husband is recovering before we can explain what happened. Would you like a wheel chair or can you walk?"

"A wheel chair please," she said, still quiet.

"Alright then," Auggie wheeled her to the special room where Frank was. Neville went to meet with McGonagall to tell her what happened.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Mister Longbottom? Is something the matter?" his professor asked.

"Nothing is wrong, Professor, but since our NEWTs are over and there are only two weeks left until graduation, I would like to request to stay here to spend the week here with my parents."

"Why ever would you want to do that, they don't recognize you at all."

"Because we figured out a way to cure them, and how they need to re-learn all the history about all the things they've missed out on the past few years." This was the first time he could remember that Minerva McGonagall had been speechless.

"He – healed them?" she asked after a few minutes.

"Yes," Neville replied. "And I need to spend this time with them."

"That's perfectly fine," Professor McGonagall replied. "Take all the time you'd like. I'll let Ms. Lovegood come after her classes each day."

"Thank you," he replied sincerely. Much to his surprise, she walked over to him and hugged the teenager.

"When they are well enough to see visitors, please let me know," she asked. "I would very much like to see them."

"You'll be the first to know," he replied. With one final fleeting glance at her students, she left the hospital and let Neville attend to his parents.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Auggie, are you ready?" Neville asked.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that," the healer chuckled. "But yes, I'm ready. Lets go in." Neville and Augustus walked back into the special room his parents had been kept in. Luna followed them in as well, seeing as she was waiting with Auggie outside the room for him. "Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom? How do you feel?" Auggie asked.

"We feel fine, just confused as to what's going on," Frank replied.

"We'll explain everything in good time," he assured them, "but we need to know the last thing you two remember."

"I remember Bellatrix Lestrange cornering us while we were in Hogsmeade. It was our third wedding anniversary, one day before our son's second birthday," Alice started. "We had left little Neville with Frank's mother, Augusta. Bellatrix had two or three more people with her as well. They tortured us for any information we had about the whereabouts of You-Know-Who."

"I blacked out shortly after my wife, so I don't know much more than that," Frank said. "But what about our son? Does my mother still have him?"

"Yes, Augusta Longbottom is taking excellent care of him," Auggie said calmly. "But I wonder, do you know what year you're in?"

"Of course," Alice said, as if this was the simplest solution in the world. "It's 1983."

"What I'm about to tell you both may come as a shock," he warned. "The year is 1999. Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters tortured you to the point of insanity. You two have been in residence here since 1983."

"No that can't have happened," Alice cried.

"Please, any questions can be answered by these two," Auggie indicated Neville and Luna. "I must report to my superior." And with that, Auggie left the Longbottom's with their son and his girlfriend.

"Where's our son? We want to see him!" Frank demanded.

"How old was your son?" Luna asked.

"He was two the day after our anniversary," Alice said, tears welling at her eyes.

"Your son is nearly 19 now," she said.

"Where is he?" demanded Frank once more.

"I'm right here Dad," Neville said quietly.

"Neville?" Alice queried.

"Mum, its me," he said. He walked over to his mother and reached out to hold her hand.

"Oh my sweet boy!" she cried. Neville hoisted her up out of the chair to hug her. Frank sat there in disbelief but was convinced when he looked at the small scar above his right eyebrow; this happened when he was a year old and he had run into the corner of the table and had to be taken to this hospital. Once Neville let Alice down he went to his father. Frank stood up of his own volition.

"Son?"

"Yes Dad, its me," Neville confirmed before hugging him as well. After the hug Neville spoke again. "Would you like to go back to your room? It would certainly be more comfortable."

"Alright then." The couple wheeled the Longbottoms down to their private suite. "I'm going to be staying here this week, or longer."

"What's been happening? And who is this lovely young lady?" Frank asked.

"Of sorry, my manners seemed to have gone out the window. D'you remember Xenophilius Lovegood, the editor for the Quibbler?"

"We've heard of him, his magazine was certainly entertaining in those dark times," Alice confirmed.

"Well, this is his daughter, Luna," Neville said. "Luna officially meet Frank and Alice Longbottom."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Luna said quietly, a dreamy tone back in her voice.

"As is our pleasure to meet you my dear," they replied but Frank continued. "Please tell us what happened."

"Alright, but not all at once, I mean it will be a complete overload," Neville said. They both nodded in agreement. "Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange and his brother Rabastan, and Barty Crouch Jr. tortured to the point of complete insanity. They were sent to Azkaban for life. For all intents and purposes, Voldemort was defeated."

"You dare say his name?" Alice hissed.

"My one good friend always says this, 'fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself', so I do well to say his name. I have for quite some time now," Neville said proudly. "But I wasn't always like this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was all but a squib growing up. Gran nearly gave up all hope for me ever doing magic until Great-Uncle Algie dropped me from the upstairs window."

"He did what?" Alice and Frank roared.

"Don't worry," Neville assured them. "He was trying to get me to show any sign of magic. I bounced when he dropped me; I was nine. Even the first several years of Hogwarts I wasn't very good with magic."

"What house did you get into? Your mother was convinced that you were going to be a Hufflepuff," Frank asked.

"Well I think I should have the first few years, but I was in Gryffindor; no clue as to how the hell I got in there," Neville chuckled. "I was the biggest scardy cat you'd ever see. I mean, I was like that until I met Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna."

"Harry?" Alice asked. "Lily and James' son?"

"Yeah, in a few days you can meet him if you'd like," Neville said. "But this thing was, Voldemort wasn't really dead." His parents flinched when he said the name. "He was living, sharing the body, unbeknownst to Dumbledore, with our Defense professor. Harry figured out how to stop him from returning to full power. Voldemort thought he could get a hold of the sorcerer's stone, to make himself immortal but it was destroyed in the process."

"How wasn't he dead?" Frank asked.

"That explanation comes later, you need to hear all the events in order," he said. "But we need to let you rest now; the healers would like to check in on you soon. I promise we'll explain things tomorrow."

"Alright then," they conceded.

Neville and Luna both hugged his parents good-bye and went to find Auggie. They walked along the hallway until Neville saw an empty room. He pulled her inside and gave her a crushing hug, letting all of his tears of sadness and joy spill from his eyes, all the tears he had been holding in all day.

"That's it, love, let it all out," she said soothingly, rubbing her hands up and down his lean back. They spent a good hour fifteen minutes standing there before he was okay enough to leave. Once they were outside the room, their hands clasped to each others, they spotted Auggie walking away.

"Hey Aug!" Neville called. The healer turned around and smiled at the couple.

"You two okay?" he asked as he waited for them to catch up.

"Yeah, I think we are," Neville replied, gently squeezing her hand.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Neville, Luna, and Augustus spent the remainder of the day with the board of directors. In a surprising turn of events, Augustus was fired from his Healer position on the spell damage ward. When the couple tried to plead his case, the director wouldn't hear anything about it. Then, by clever use of the word 'however', they hired him back as an upper level researcher; Augustus promptly fainted, the news of his dream job was simply overwhelming. By the time Augustus came 'round, Neville had signed all the legal documents, or at wanted them to live an anonymous life for a while, or at least until they were caught up on all the current events. By next Monday he thought the board would be urging him to release their names.

The sky had turned a deep midnight blue by the time they all had left the director's office. "You want to kip here tonight? You're free to use this room as long as you need," Auggie said, pointing to the room next to his parent's suite.

"Yeah," Neville said, grabbing Luna's tiny hand. The young researcher bid them good night and the couple entered the room. There was a queen-sized bed in the corner. The set up was very similar to the set up of his parents' room. Neville was physically and mentally drained, so he crawled into the with all but his boxers on. Luna was quick to follow, transfiguring her clothes into pajamas with sheep on them. He chuckled at the childishness of her clothes but drew her close to him, her back pressed close to his stomach.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Luna has to floo back to school early so she could be at her first class. Neville went back to his parent's room to find them already up and waiting for him. "Hello son," Alice greeted, getting up from the bed to hug him.

"Morning mum."

Frank shook his hand and his parents returned to the bed, sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing the fire; they looked like they had been tortured the day before, not a day older than they were when they were first admitted here.

"So what would you like to know? I mean, I left off with my second year," Neville said.

"Who were your teachers?" Alice asked, clearly interested in her son's schooling.

"McGonagall is still Transfiguration, Sprout is Herbology, Flitwick is Charms, Quirrell was Defense Against the Dark Arts but he died, Snape was potions…" Neville trailed off.

"SNAPE!!! Severus Snape!?!" Alice cried out. "How the bloody hell did that greasy bat get a teaching job?!"

"Dumbledore trusted him," Neville said simply. "Once he heard that the Potter's were marked for death, he turned spy for the order. He was on the side of the light ever since."

"After that shock…" Alice said, trying to calm herself down. "What about the rest of your schooling?"

"Well, my second year, Voldemort tried to come back, again. He possessed by friend Ginny Weasley."

"Molly finally had a girl?" Alice asked, happiness behind her eyes.

"Yeah, she's a grade behind me," Neville said. "So he possessed Ginny and Harry had to save her from the Basalisk."

"Really? I've only read about them in the Auror books," Frank said, "and a twelve year old beat it. How?"

"Dumbledore's phoenix blinded it, but Harry pulled Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat, which Fawkes brought," Neville explained.

"Oh, wow."

"And guess who our Defense teacher was this year?" Neville asked.

"Who?"

"None other than Gilderoy Lockhart."

"Really?" Alice said in awe. "He was such a dreamboat."

"He was such a crack pot," Neville scoffed. "He put memory charms on all those witches and wizards who did great things, taking credit for himself. In the end his memory charm backfired. His room was right next door to yours for a while."

"Ha!" Frank cried out in triumph. "I told you he was a crock."

"Alright, before your father's head swells too much, gets go on to your third year. I'm assuming you got a new defense teacher?" asked Alice.

"Yeah, you two knew him. Remus Lupin," Neville said smiling.

"Dumbledore let him teach?" Frank asked incredulously.

"Yeah, Snape would make him this new potion called the Wolfsbane potion, to help him keep his mind while he transformed," Neville explained. "He was by far the best teacher we've had."

"He did always want to be a teacher," Alice said. "What happened to him? I have a feeling that he didn't last more than a year."

"Wait!" Frank said. "Did you have Care of Magical Creatures? With Kettleburn?"

"Well I did take the class, but Kettleburn retired before I could have him."

"Who took over?" Frank asked.

"You wouldn't believe it, but Hagrid."

"Hagrid?" his parents shouted simultaneously.

"He's a brilliant teacher really, once he stopped showing us a few dangerous creatures," Neville said excitedly. "Okay, on to Remus though. It all really happened one night."

"What happened?" they asked.

"We met Sirius."

"What?!" cried Alice.

"Well it was really Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but yeah, they met him in the Shrieking Shack."

"Do you know what that filthy murderer did to poor Peter?" Frank demanded angrily.

"I'll explain everything but you need to calm down or we'll have a horde of healers kicking me out," Neville said sternly. It took a few moments before Frank could regain his composure and nodded for his son to go on. "Okay. Sirius didn't murder Peter. Padfoot was innocent all along."

"But he was the secret keeper for the Potters, he betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort," Alice said.

"No, they switched. Wormtail betrayed them. He faked his own death. That's why Padfoot was sent to Azkaban; he actually escaped from there by the way."

"What!?" Alice cried. Frank sat there and chuckled.

"If anyone cold break out of that hell hold, it would be old Paddy," Frank said.

"Yeah, Harry helped him escape from the dementors the second time."

"That was a relatively calm your for you all then," Alice commented.

"Yeah, Remus really helped me," Neville said.

"Okay, on to the fourth year," Frank said.

"Let's have a spot of lunch first, I didn't even get a chance to eat breakfast," Neville suggested. Alice pressed button for a healer.

"Hey you guys!" Auggie called them.

"I thought you weren't a healer anymore? Why are you still attending here?" Neville asked, shaking his hands.

"Well, I was just walking past… What can I do for you now?"

"We were going to order lunch," Alice said, smiling at the young researcher.

"I'll bring the plates and menus," he replied simply. He returned several minutes later with trays, plates, utensils, and menus for the rooms' current occupants. "Just tell the plate what you want from the menu."

"Thanks Auggie," Neville said.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

After their short lunch, they were back to grilling their son on his fourth year in school. "Come on, anything exciting happen?"

"Well the tri-wizard tournament was there," Neville said. "It was open to 17 and older but someone put Harry's name in."

"You were 14? How the bloody hell did they let a bloody 14 year old compete?" Alice ranted.

"I apologize, she tends to have a mouth worse than an auror," Frank teased.

"Its fine, my friend Ginny is the same way," Neville chuckled.

"What were the tasks then?"

"They had to retrieve a golden egg from a dragon, all nesting mothers too."

"What?!" Alice cried.

"There was a Swedish Short Snout, Chinese Fireball, Welsh Green, and Harry actually got the Hungarian Horntail."

"Who were the other champs?" Frank asked.

"Cedric Diggory was the other Hogwarts champion; he was in Hufflepuff and Quidditch captain. Fleur Delacour was the champ from Beauxbatons Academy. Viktor Krum was from Durmstrang. He's actually an international Quidditch player for Bulgaria. He and Hermione dated for a while. And you know Harry. He actually got on Gryffindor's team on his first year."

"Wow," Frank said. "McGonagall must have seen something special."

"Wait, they have Yule Ball for those things. Who'd you go with?" Alice asked eagerly.

"I asked Hermione but she was going with Viktor, so I asked Ginny Weasley."

"That must have been so sweet!" Alice gushed.

"I had an awkward stage really, until I was like 15, so she was quite patient with me."

"Did you date her at all?"

"Nah, she want out with a guy in my house her 6th year though," Neville explained.

"Next task please," Frank prompted.

"Okay, um, they had to save people from the bottom of the lake from the merpeople," Neville said. "Barty Crouch Sr. was killed. Oh, by the way, Alastor Moody was our Defense professor."

"He's really scary," Alice shuddered. "I don't look forward to seeing him."

"I wouldn't either," Neville said calmly.

"Third task?"

"There was a giant maze, when Harry and Cedric tied at the end but the cup was a portkey. They were taken to a graveyard. Wormtail did this complex potion and Voldemort returned to a regenerated body."

"What? How could he do that?"

"You'll find out more about that later," Neville explained. "5th year now. We found that Moody was polyjuiced; it really was Barty Crouch Jr. He was kissed by the dementors. Now we got a new professor from the Ministry of Magic, Dolores Umbridge. On top of the new bitch, the ministry denied Voldemort's return."

"How the hell do they get off doing that?" Alice said.

"Only Harry was there cause they killed Cedric," Neville said. "So we never learned anything in Defense class this year. The ministry didn't want us trained in combat. Harry, Ron, and Mione started the DA. We called ourselves Dumbledore's Army."

"You joined an illegal underground organization?" Frank questioned.

"Um, yeah," Neville said simply.

"I'm so proud of you son," he replied.

"Thanks, I guess," Neville said shyly.

"The DA helped him a lot, gained a lot of confidence," Luna said from the doorway.

"Luna!" Neville said. He got up from his chair and ran to give her a kiss. "How did you get here so early?"

"Professor McGonagall lets me skip Defense," Luna said simply.

"Good, I just go to the DA. That's actually when I met Luna really, I mean go to know her."

"What house are you in, dear?" Alice asked.

"Ravenclaw, Mrs. Longbottom," Luna replied shyly.

"Please, call me Alice, dear."

"Alright then."

"So could you tell us more about this 'Dumbledore's Army'?" Frank asked. "And what happened with the Order?"

"The order was reformed, recruited several new members, several Weasley children joined. Base of Operations was at Sirius' old house on Grimmauld Place," Neville explained.

"And Harry ran the DA. They taught us basic dueling and a whole bunch of new curses, hexes, jinxes, and charms to help us. The goal was to prepare us for what was out there as well as pass our OWLs," Luna said.

"What else was out there?"

"There was a mass breakout from Azkaban; the Dementors switched sides and were taking orders from Voldemort," Neville explained. "That just leaves the Department of Mysteries."

"You went there?" Frank asked incredulously.

"We fought there," Neville corrected.

"WHAT!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Well yeah, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and I went to fight," Neville said. "Harry had been getting visions – one actually saves Arthur Weasley – but the final one was Sirius being tortured by Voldemort. Harry tried to check it out while we stood guard at school and we all got caught. I mean, we all got away, but we rode thestrals from the Forbidden Forest to the Ministry."

"You're ridden a thestral?" Alice asked. "Could you both see them?"

"Yeah, Grandad died when I was about seven," Neville said. "I was there when he died."

"And my mum died when I was nine, one of her experimental spells backfired," Luna said somberly.

"Dad died." Frank said.

"He had dragon pox for quite a long time, then he got Spattergroit on top of it all," Neville said. "He passed on about ten years back."

"What about mum?" Frank asked. "What about my mum? How is she?"

"She's perfectly fine, more than that really," Neville said. "But I'll get to her later."

"Department of Mysteries?" Alice prompted.

"Oh yeah, we went to the Hall of Prophecy. You know the one that could have been about Harry or I?" They nodded. "Well, we found that and a few Death Eaters were there as well."

"Which ones?" Alice demanded, anger rising within her. There was no way in hell her little boy should have been fighting Death Eaters when he was fifteen, or even at all.

"Lucius Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange, Walden Macnair, Mulciber, and I think that's it," Neville thought out loud. "We fought rather well, I mean, as well as a bunch of fourteen and fifteen year olds could against Death Eaters. They broke my nose and Luna really wasn't too hurt, just some bumps and bruises."

"You won?"

"Well, the Order came to help out, umm… there was one tragedy."

"Who?"

"Sirius was blasted through the Veil of Death by Bellatrix," Luna said calmly. Several minutes passed.

"Paddy's dead?" Frank asked, still in shock.

"Unfortunately," Neville said. "We'll let you two have dinner and talk about things, we'll be down in the cafeteria."

"If you need us, we'll be back to answer any more questions," Luna said before she and Neville left the room.

"I didn't think it would be this hard," Neville sighed.

"They can handle it; they're tough," she replied, grabbing his hand and interlacing their fingers. "Let's get a spot of dinner."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

It was nearly an hour later when Frank and Alice called the teenagers back into the room. They had calmed down considerably before the teens entered the room. "How are you two doing?"

"Still just taking it all in, really," Alice said. Frank nodded his head in conformation.

"Why don't we save the next three years for tomorrow?" Neville suggested.

"After you finish, would we be able to see people?" Frank asked.

"Sure, but I think it would be better to hear 6th year tonight, give you time to process the biggest news," Neville suggested. Luna nodded.

"Well Snape got the Defense job and Horace Slughorn came back to teach potions," Luna said.

"Sluggy came back?" Alice laughed.

"We both ended up in the Slug Club," Neville grimaced. "Worst thing ever."

"I bet," Frank said. "I always declined. Lily wasn't so lucky. Sluggy always pitted her against Snape, biggest rivalry ever."

"Well, Dumbledore gave Harry private lessons and us members kept our secret communications --," he was cut off.

"What secret communication?" Frank asked.

"Hermione used a protean charm on some galleons. They would burn when she changed the dates," Luna explained.

"You mean to tell me that a fifth year student perfected an advanced NEWT level charm?" he said skeptically.

"Nearly everyone, Dumbledore included, says she that brightest witch of the age," Neville said. "But our sixth year was rather uneventful, I mean, until the end."

"What happened?" Alice asked.

"Harry went away with Dumbledore to do something and the Death Eaters came in through the Room of Requirement," Neville said. "We fought them again. But in the end, they fled, we won with few injuries. I had some spell damage. Bill Weasley was mauled by Fenrir Greyback. He wasn't transformed at the time, but he has some werewolf tendencies.

"And there was one more casualty, Harry and Dumbledore were up in his office when they returned from where ever they were. Snape murdered him," Neville said quietly. His parents' eyes went wide and a single solitary tear fell down Alice's face.

"D-Dumbledore's dead?" Frank managed to choke out.

"Yes, two years ago, nearly to the day," Neville confirmed. "Look, you've heard a lot today, and this is the biggest piece of news anyone could get, we're going to let you talk about what you've heard. This is a lot to take in. I'll come back tomorrow to see if you want to hear more or if you need more time to deal with all of this." They nodded and the teenagers left the room. "I never realized how hard this would be," Neville sighed, tugging on his hair. "Going through my life and explaining things to people in a way that they never heard all this before."

"I know it would be as difficult for me as well," Luna said, steering him to the bed. Once he sat down, she climbed back behind him and began to rub his shoulders. He sank back and relaxed into her tough, allowing her to rub all the tension away. "I wish I could be here for you, to help tell your parents what went on in our lives."

"You need to finish your testing," Neville said.

"But I already took my NEWTs," Luna coaxed.

"You still need to take the sixth year OWLs, just as a formality," Neville said.

"I know," she said. "I just want to help."

"You just being here now helps me," he said, but groaned as Luna kissed the area where his shoulder and neck met. "You know, we really shouldn't be doing this here."

"But I miss you," she pleaded, kissing from his shoulders to his ears. "There are silencing charms you know."

"True, I just feel bad," he said, gasping as she nibbled his ear.

"Let me make all those bad feelings go away then," Luna said coyly as she lifted his t-shirt over his head. Neville asked McGonagall to have the boy's floo over some clothes, but he suspected that Hermione got all the clothes together, since they matched.

"Deal," he said, turning around to kiss her full on the mouth. They fell back on the bed with him on top. He shifted his body to get access to the buttons on her uniform shirt. He finally got all the buttons undone and didn't hear the quiet knock at the door. Neville's hand traveled to her breast and squeezed, her hands were tangled in his hair. The door flew open as Auggie walked in Neville's room, his parents in tow.

"Oh wow, Nev, I'm so sorry," Auggie replied. Neville nearly jumped out of his skin, he rolled over to block Luna from the intruders. She spelled her shirt back up and turned to face the intruders.

"Was there something you needed?" Neville asked calmly, though his face was blushing redder than the Weasleys' hair.

"Um, we just wanted top know if we could go see Dumbledore's grave later?" Frank asked.

"And this couldn't have lasted until morning?" Neville growled, gritting his teeth in frustration. Luna put a hand on his still unclothed shoulder.

"We just didn't want to forget," Alice said sheepishly.

"I'll just get them back into their room," Auggie said.

"Okay," was all Neville could manage to say. Once the door was closed, Luna locked it and put up the silencing charm once more.

"Are you okay Nev?" she asked.

"I know they don't know better but ARG!... It's really frustrating. This was the first time we've been able to do anything in like the past month," Neville groaned.

"We can still…" she trailed off, inconspicuously flicking her wand so all of his clothes disappeared.

"What the --?" he started but was cut off by the blonde's lips. Though surprised, Neville responded quickly and flipped the witch on her back. He groped on the bed for her wand. Once he found, he spelled away her clothes, his hands wandering all over the pale, hot skin. He loved the face that Luna was very reactive, as well as vocal. She was ready for him almost immediately, which he took advantage of, thrusting firmly up into her. They were both tanking whom ever created the silencing charm, because they both ended up shouting obscenities as they finished.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Neville, look, we're really sorry about yesterday," Alice said as both teenagers entered the room. "Augustus set up the floo here so Luna could leave and come through here."

"How old are you my dear?" Frank asked.

"I turned 18 in April sir," she replied.

"And how long have you been dating?"

"Since last school year, but there were certain circumstances where we couldn't be together," Luna replied. "But overall, almost two years."

"At lease that's a comfort to know, you've been together for a while before beginning certain activities," Frank said.

"Well, I think we're old enough to know what we want to do," Neville replied levelly.

"I understand," Frank said.

"I should go," Luna said quietly. "I don't want McGonagall to yell at me, I have Transfiguration first thing today."

"Go on, love," Neville said, giving her a quick kiss. Once Luna was gone he turned back to his parents. "So are you able to hear about my last year at school? Or would you like another day to deal with it all?"

"Well, it was quite a lot, and I think it would be better to let it stew for another day, but I really just want to hear the rest, we really want to hear the rest," Alice said.

"If you're sure," Neville said, taking a deep breath. "Things had really gone to pot around the world, what with Voldemort returning and really taking over."

"Rufus Scrimgeour was the Minister after Fudge, but the Death Eaters killed him when Voldemort took over. They gate-crashed Bill Weasley's wedding, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione got away. They went off to do their mission but I'll tell you more about that in a bit," Neville explained. "Things were greatly changing for the school. Professor Snape was made Headmaster after Dumbledore, most likely on Voldemort's orders. He had Death Eaters teaching classes; Muggle Studies, because the professor had disappeared over the summer, and DADA."

"Which ones?"

"They were rather young, you might not recognize them, Alecto and Amycus Carrow," Neville said.

"Those brats were first years when Lily and James were Head Boy and Girl, always gave them trouble; worshiped the fucking ground Snivelus walked on," Alice spat venomously.

"Yeah, they were a real battle of joy," he said sarcastically. "They had quite interesting ways of dealing with the punishments."

"You were the first one they made an example of weren't you?" Frank asked, pretty much knowing the answer.

"Yeah, at dinner. All the staff tables were moved away and I was to stand there. I don't remember how many rounds of the Cruciatus curse they gave me, but this was pretty much what they would do to anyone that stepped out of line in their classes," he said quietly. "You know, I remember that night, from when I was little."

"You do? But you were just two years old," Alice tried to reason.

"I remember quite a lot from that night, and the Carrows thought they could use that against me," Neville explained. "Since I refused to cry out when they put the curse on me, they used cutting hexes and knives to torture me, to 'teach me a lesson' as they would call it. And I mean, I wasn't the only one who they treated like this, my friend Seamus Finnigan was treated more like a cutting board than I was, just because they thought all the Gryffindors would be just like me."

"They cut you?!" Alice exclaimed.

"Well, wll the purebloods were sage, except the blood-traitors, which I kinda made known the first day back in school. They didn't allow Muggle-borns in the school anymore. Dolores Umbridge was heading up the Muggle Born Registration Act. The ministry had decided that all Muggle-Born's had stolen magic and that they were unfit to stay in the magical world."

"Wow," was all they could say.

"Yeah, around November they were getting rather upset with me, so i overheard them talking about killing me their next chance they had; so I took to hiding in the room of requirement. That was my home until the end of the school year, and it proved more useful that I could have ever thought."

"How the bloody hell was that more useful than going to bloody school?" Alice asked.

"Well, it gave me time to work out, build up my physical strength, and I read quite a few useful books. I learned a whole arsenal of spells. Eventually others came to join me, mainly those from the DA. And then Luna was taken. They took her off the train near Christmas, help her captive in Malfoy Manor. They were starting to use kids to manipulate parents into doing what ever they wanted. Xeno was printing things about Harry and the Death Eaters didn't want that happening. Even toward the end of the year, the Weasley's took Ginny out of the school."

"Did anything happen to my mum?" Frank asked.

"Well, once they realized that they couldn't use me for anything against Gran, they tried to attack her to get to me to conform."

"They hurt her?" Frank cried.

"I said tried. They bit off a bit more than they could chew with Gran. Sent Auror Dawlish in there to deal with her. You'd think that being a little old lady, living alone would be something easy to deal with right? Well I think Dawlish spent a month at least in St. Mungo's from the damages she inflicted. She went on the run but managed to send me a letter; she thought I was growing up to be just like you two."

"I'm so proud of you son," Frank said. "You were much braver than I ever could have asked for."

"I did what I had to, I mean, I was one of like thirty of us living in the room of requirement; from all houses except Slytherin. Harry, Ron, and Hermione came back for the final battle, which was at Hogwarts. The room had a passage way that connected us with the Hogs Head Inn, down in Hogsmeade, you know, the pub that Aberforth Dumbledore owned. We got out food from there, and that's how we got all the outside people in the castle to fight. Harry and the other two were on the hunt for Horcruxes. They are like object with pieces of his soul. Voldemort had split his soul."

"What do you mean 'split' his soul?" Frank asked.

"From what we've learned, when he murdered people, his soul was split. He split it into seven pieces; six horcruxes and the final piece still in his regenerated body. There was one in the old diary that Ginny had found, but Harry destroyed that one. One was Voldemort's grandfather's ring, which Dumbledore took care one. One was a locket that had belonged to Salazar Slytherin, and from what we've heard, Ron was the one to destroy that one. He used Gryffindor's sword, but there was something special about it. Harry used that sword to kill the basilisk, and we all know that Goblin-made things absorb what they come into contact with; so it absorbed the venom from the snake, effectively making it a horcrux-destroying weapon. The sword was our most useful weapon. There were three more left; one being Hufflepuff's cup, which they had to break into Gringotts to get it out of Bellatrix's vault.

"Um… I guess I forgot something before that. The snatchers were out and they caught Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They were taken to Malfoy Manor, where Luna, our friend Dean Thomas – who was a Muggle-born – and Mr. Ollivander were imprisoned. They tried to torture information out of Hermione but she wouldn't crack. They were saved by a house-elf, that was strangely loyal to Harry. He got them all out Luna included, but he died in the effort, stabbed in the heart by Bellatrix. That was the day that Peter died."

"Pete died?"

"Yeah, when Voldemort came back, Peter had to sacrifice his hand to help with the special potion, so he was given a powerful silver hand for his efforts. The hand choked him to death in the basement before they were able to escape. After everyone escaped, that's when they went to Gringotts. They got the cup and ended up in Hogsmeade. They one horcrux was here in the school, the lost diadem of Ravenclaw. They went off to find it and get rid of it so the rest of us could fight. We did rather well, if I do say so myself. I teamed up with Professor Sprout and we used the plants to help us: Mandrakes, Snargaluff Pods, Venemous Tentactula, and Devil's Snare. It's safe to say that they weren't expecting that at all."

"I'm very proud of you," Alice said.

"Thanks," he replied, blushing over the compliment. "Er, well, Harry pulled me aside at one point to tell me to kill the snake, Nagini. He went to give himself to Voldemort, to die for us."

"He was killed?"

"Would you let me finish?" he teased.

"Sorry," they replied sheepishly.

"So Harry died and Voldemort came out to flaunt it, but I ran out to face him. He kept going on how I was the best person to be a Death Eater."

"He told Tom that he would join the Death Eaters when hell froze over," Luna said after stepping out of the fireplace. She had the knack of knowing what he was talking about even if she wasn't paying attention or even in the same room as him.

"Luna?" Neville questioned.

"I just had the Astronomy written exam, and the practical one isn't until midnight," she said simply, going over to give both Alice and Frank hugs.

"So what happened?" Alice asked eagerly.

"Um he froze me, put the sorting hat on my head and set it on fire," Neville said quickly, hoping to prepare himself for the comments from his parents.

"WHAT!?" his parents cried together.

"I broke free through, none of his spells stuck anymore. The sword of Gryffindor materialized in the hat and I cut Nagini's head off; then the real battle began. Harry really wasn't dead."

"Huh?" Frank asked.

"Well, when Harry defeated Voldemort the first time, there was an unknown transfer. A piece of Voldemort's soul was transferred to Harry, so when he had the killing curse sent at him again, it only destroyed the piece of Voldemort's soul instead of Harry's. There was a huge battle in the Great Hall. There were a few people that had died, but in the end Harry killed Voldemort, he's gone."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we buried him at Hogwarts," Neville said.

"Who died then?"

"Our friend Colin Creevey, Nymphadora Tonks Lupin – oh yeah, she and Remus got married and had a baby, Teddy is Harry's godson – Remus Lupin, and Fred Weasley. They are all the ones that you would know on our side, but you'll be happy that Bellatrix was killed as well."

"Who?" Frank demanded. "Who killed that bitch?"

"Molly Weasley."

"Molly?" Alice asked, slightly confused. "Permanent house-wife, Molly? She wouldn't hurt a fly."

"She's a tough woman, more so than you think," Neville said.

"She's my Godmother," Luna interjected happily.

"So, Voldemort is gone forever?"

"Absolutely, and all the Death Eaters are either dead or in Azkaban for the rest of their days, but the Dementors were not reinstated. Bill Weasley has been using Muggle technology as well as the curses he found in Egypt when he was a curse-breaker to help keep them in this time."

"Alright then," Frank said. All of a sudden there was a knock at the door. Neville answered it and was face to face with Auggie.

"Aug? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you don't want to see me anymore?" he teased.

"No it's not that, its just, I thought you were going into research," Neville said hastily.

"Well, the board of directors thought it would be in the best interest of your parents that I be their healer until they are discharged," he explained.

"Well come on in then," Neville said, grinning ear to ear.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"Are there any reasons why we can't leave here?" Frank asked. "I'd really like to go home and see my mother."

"Nope, you've heard all the news that could have really sent you into a relapse," Auggie replied, looking at their charts. "Nev, you'll want to warn your Gran about this; hide them in another room while you tell her. I know you'll do well. Now Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom, you're free to go."

"Thank you Augustus," Frank said gratefully, shaking his hand.

"I don't know what I would have done without you," Alice replied sincerely, giving him a hug.

"I owl'd Gran earlier and she said she'd be back in less than an hour, so lets go now," Neville said, grabbing Luna's hand. They got to the fire, threw in the powder and called out their destination "Fox Run". This was the name that Neville and his Gran had come up with before he left for Hogwarts first year. Frank and Alice followed shortly, dressed in some of their old robes. They were told to wait in the kitchen for Augusta to come home. It didn't take long, maybe twenty minutes. Neville let out a sigh when he saw Great Aunt Enid and Great Uncle Algie walk in the door behind his formidable looking grandmother.

"Neville? Mat in Merlin's name are you doing here?" she asked. "Why aren't you in school? And you too Luna?"

"Well, I haven't been in school for the past week," Neville explained. "I've been at St. Mungo's, and Luna came with me."

"All week? Why would you spend all your time there this week?"

"Well I talked with that young healer, you know, Auggie." Augusta nodded. "He found a cure."

"WHAT?!"

"A cure, and it worked."

"Why wasn't I informed of this?" Augusta cried out.

"Because I'm over eighteen, I made the call. If it didn't work, they would have still been the same, and I really don't know any better. You would have gotten your hopes up if it had failed and they didn't return to the way you thought they should be," Neville said. "Professor McGonagall knows all about it, and Luna's been coming to the hospital in her free time as well, to help me."

"Help you with what?"

"Well, they remembered the day of the attack, and nothing after," he explained. "So Luna and I helped catch them up on the past seventeen years or so."

"Where are they? Are they still in their room?" Augusta asked eagerly.

"Actually a bit closer to home," he said cryptically. "Mum, Da, you can come out now." Frank and Alice walked through the doorway leading to the kitchen and Augusta nearly knocked her son over as she ran to hug him.

"Oh, my baby, my poor baby, you're back," she sobbed into his chest. Frank hugged her back just as fiercely. Neville had never seen her like this; typically she never showed her emotions with the exception being her disappointment.

"Yeah Ma," he chuckled. "I'm back for good this time."

Once Augusta relinquished her hold on Frank, she turned her attention to her daughter-in-law. "Oh, Alice, I'm so glad you're back," she said sincerely, hugging her tightly as well. Algie and Enid also welcomed the two back to normal life. "Would you two like something to eat? I'm sure I could knock us up some food for lunch."

"Sounds good to me," Frank said, patting his flat stomach.

"Luna? Are you staying or do you need to be back at the school?" Augusta asked.

"Um, I can stay for now; I don't have to be back until later. I have my Astronomy final at midnight," she replied. Soon they were all eating grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, but Neville stopped them to make an announcement.

"Mum, Da, there's one thing I didn't tell you back at the hospital, well, two things really," he said. "I went back to finish my seventh year, and there were eight of us who hung out together, all of us couples. Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, Luna and I, Draco Malfoy and Susan Bones."

"You were friends with Draco Malfoy?" Frank asked,

"He's not really like his family, and they were all pardoned by the ministry; Kingsley Shacklebolt is the new minister of magic."

"Okay, what's the second thing?" Alice asked, before her husband could retort more about Malfoy.

"Well, Luna and I are engaged," Neville said proudly, grabbing her hand.

"You're what?!" they cried.

"I proposed on Valentines day, this year actually," he said, pulling his wand to reveal the glamour she had on her ring. They didn't want too many people knowing outside the family and their small group of friends.

"I'm so proud of you," Frank said, shaking his hand and turning to kiss Luna on the Cheek. Alice followed suit, hugging her son and future daughter-in-law.


End file.
